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Fashion pics of the 1950s by Norman Parkinson.

Anne Gunning outside the City Palace, Vogue, November 1956.

Norman Parkinson (1913 – 1990) was a celebrated English portrait and fashion photographer.

He always maintained he was a craftsman and not an artist.

From his early days as a photographer up to his death he remained one of the foremost British portrait and fashion photographers.

His work, following the lead of Martin Munkacsi at Harper’s Bazaar, revolutionised the world of British fashion photography in the 1940s by bringing his models from the rigid studio environment into a far more dynamic outdoor setting.

Audrey Hepburn, US Glamour, 1955.

Humour played a central role in many of his photographs which often included himself.

As well as magazine work he also created celebrated calendars featuring glamorous young women.

Nothing compares to the authenticity and sweetness of the 1950’s era in fashion. It was so versatile, with the same styles and colours you could be both sweet and innocent, as well as more brazen, but still feminine. It’s my favourite era, because they were starting to let go of the strict formal fashion sense of the 1940’s and become more loose about it all when rock n roll really started to become popular.